Professional Tennis Players Association

Milos Raonic stated his intention to join the group. Raonic has expressed his displeasure with Andrea Gaudenzi, the chairman of the ATP on the body's handling of the COVID crisis. Speaking after his semi-final win at the Cincinnati Western & Southern Open held in New York due to the pandemic, Raonic is quoted as saying:

“Players have had plenty of time to think and reflect and take a look at certain parts which they may not be happy with and discuss...A lot of us were kept in the dark by our leadership for six months. We were disappointed with many things. I voiced my opinion on many things, such as ... executives in other sports taking pay cuts to support us. As tennis players, we weren’t making a dime for months and months. ... Lower guys weren’t making a dime," Raonic said. "But our executives were staying home and didn’t feel it necessary to take any pay cuts. I pushed for that on every single phone call we had”.[1]

Gaudenzi was critical of the PTPA and said that "You have what other athletes in other sports would strive for — a seat at the boardroom table. That is what players fought for in the creation of the ATP Tour...It makes no sense why you would be better served by shifting your role from the inside to the outside of the governance structure".[2]

Pospisil said in a statement that it was "very difficult, if not impossible, to have any significant impact on any major decisions made by our tour" and that "Our voices will finally be heard and we will soon have an impact on decisions that affect our lives and livelihoods".[2]

In response the ATP and the WTA, the four Grand Slam tournaments and the International Tennis Federation released a statement in support of the ATP and said that "It is a time for even greater collaboration, not division; a time to consider and act in the best interests of the sport, now and for the future...When we work together, we are a stronger sport".[2] The PTPA has drawn the opposition of players including Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, the former writing on Twitter: "It is time for unity, not for separation. These are moments where big things can be achieved as long as the world of tennis is united".[3] Andy Murray meanwhile argued that while he is "not totally against a player union", the WTA should be on its board and the current ATP management "should be given some time to implement their vision".[4]

As the ATP is the representative of both players and tournaments, a greater degree of autonomy for players is sought by the members of the PTPA. According to proponents of the new association, the current structure makes having decisions in the best interests of the players difficult, given the conflicting and complex interests of tournaments, Grand Slam bodies and the International Tennis Federation. The PTPA said in a document that the goal of their organisation was "not to replace" the ATP but to "provide players with a self-governance structure that is independent from the ATP and is directly responsive to player-members needs and concerns".[2]

This is not the first time that professional tennis players have called for a players' only union or body. Former world number 1, Andy Roddick, tweeted on 29 August in response to the news, "It’s almost like someone should have said something a decade ago".[5] Roddick is on record to have called for a players union as far back as 2011.[6]

In November 2020, after a refusal of the ATP to allow Djokovic and Pospisil to return to the ATP player council, they were said to have been nominated by their peers, Pospisil gave an interview to tennis.com podcast, to clarify why they accepted their nomination, and argued further about the need for the new association:

"We basically don't have any information and the tournaments don't need to provide anything and don't need to be transparent at all," he says. "And that's not a business partnership. And especially when we're the product, where people come in and pay money to watch the players play. It's nothing confrontational. We're not here to be confrontational at all."[7]

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